Tomorrow Must Come
by ICanStopAnytime
Summary: Coach Eric Taylor and his wife Tami must face the tension when the company leaves. This FNL fanfiction takes place right after the end of Season 5 Episode 12, but before the season finale.


**This takes place just before the season 5 finale right after the end of Season 5 Episode 12. **

Eric Taylor sunk into the couch and absently turned on the TV. Tami had played the role of coach's wife well, serving the company cheerfully with only an occasional accusatory look shot Eric's way. Eric himself had listened to the desires and offers but had avoided giving any clear indication as to whether or not he would take the coaching job. As Tami eased down into the arm chair on the other side of the couch and began sipping a glass of white wine, Eric could feel the tension. He closed his eyes and sighed and hoped she wasn't going to bring up the topic of the dean's position again.

He understood how much the job meant to her – it's importance wasn't lost on him – but the idea of dramatically changing his life was terrifying. He had come to take their roles for granted, had eased into the expectation that she would always be there to support him in his career. What he did in large part defined who he was, and though he might find some position in Pennsylvania, he would be limited by Tami's career and living in a world foreign to Texas. Texas was home. Texas forever. Here he was king of his castle, a maker of men – there, he would be…what? Tami's husband?

She was right, of course. She'd been the coach's wife for years, and it wasn't fair, really, this one-way street…but it was a comfortable street. It had been a steady marriage. They had been happy, hadn't they? She had made him feel important, believed in him always. He had been able to pursue his goals while she accomplished a few of her own. He had given up the college coaching job in part to keep her settled, in part because he didn't want to force her to move again. And now she was asking him to move, now, when he had the opportunity to be the coach of a super team, the chance to salvage what was left of the Lions who had meant so much to him. Why did she have to want this so much? Why couldn't their paths just conveniently coincide as they always had…but they never had conveniently coincided, had they? She had chosen a path to parallel his. She had chosen it for his sake.

"Are you going to take the job?" Tami asked, not really looking at him, not looking at the TV either, staring into some corner of the room, her voice angry and resigned all at once.

Eric tried not to look at her. He knew her expression would rebuke him, and he didn't want to feel that, not now, not again. But he found himself glancing at her, and he was surprised to see something more like hurt than anger in her face. "I don't know," he said, dropping the remote and running a hand through the brown mop of his hair. His eyes lingered on her face, and he felt his conscience tremble. He had hurt her. The woman he loved. He had hurt and disappointed her and the only way he could make it right was to sacrifice his future for hers. And he didn't want to do it. But he didn't want to keep hurting her either.

If he took the coaching job, she would keep playing the role. She would be the perfect coach's wife, at least in public. But there would be a bitterness suppressed in every public motion and a faint distance between them in private. Their marriage would survive, he thought, but as a shell of its former self. She wouldn't feel the same. He realized that. But if he didn't take the job, if he followed her, then there would be a bitterness in him, too, as well as a disjointedness, an out-of-place feeling…Why had she put them in the midst of this dangerous crossroads? Why couldn't she just have said no to the job and been happy saying no? Happy staying home, home in Texas? Which was worse, to see her suffer that bitterness, or to suffer it himself? If he took the job, in time, maybe, she'd forgive him and things would be the way they once were…in time. And if she didn't?

A thought suddenly occurred to Eric Taylor. What if he took the job, and she simply…left him? Left him to follow her dreams?

It was a ridiculous thought. It wasn't possible. She would never do such a thing. Not Tami. Breaking her vow before God and man for a job. For a job? Or because of a husband who would not, could not, put her first and be happy? He felt a sudden clinching in his heart, a sudden spasm at the thought of a life without her. She had been his prop for so long, and he had leaned on her so hard, and he had needed her encouragement so badly.

As Tami looked idly into her wine glass now, trailing a restless finger around its rim, he studied her beautiful face, the wearied lines earned with struggle, the soft lips that had often curved into a gently teasing smile, the warm eyes that had looked into his with admiration and with love. He picked up the remote, turned off the TV, and tossed the remote back on the table. The sudden silence weakened his courage. "Come here," he whispered, almost inaudibly, because he was afraid to suggest it, to say how much he needed her beside him when she was hurt and angry, when nothing had been resolved. "Please."

She looked up, clearly surprised, but she did not deny him. She put the wine glass down on the coffee table and slid next to him on the couch. He wrapped an arm around her as she leaned back against his chest. He rested his own head back against the couch and closed his eyes. They sat like that for a long while, in silence. Her body did not mold comfortably to his as it usually did. There was an invisible, tense space between their flesh, even though they physically touched. He hated it. God how he needed her, and God how he hated to give her what she needed.

"Tami," he finally spoke, but he couldn't look at her. "Look…I…" He opened his eyes, but he cast them on the carpet, studied the wear time had imposed on the threads, like the wear on their marriage. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not being your champion, the way you've always been mine." He took his arm away from her and clasped her hand instead. His head was bent. "You're an amazing woman, Tami, and you must have made a great impression to get offered that position. You deserve it, and you'd be great at it. I know you would."

"Thank you," she said, quietly but graciously, with no hint of "it's about time" in her voice.

"I love you. You know that. I don't say enough how much your support has meant to me. Maybe I've taken it for granted some times."

Tami laughed lightly. "Some times?"

"Maybe a lot of times. Too many times. But not as many as you think. You know, I still remember that first game I coached for Dillon. I still remember you coming to my office, telling me you believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. You've made me the man I am, Tami. You've done that." Now he did look at her, and he saw her face soften for the first time in a long time. "A lot of men have wives who pick at them, bring them down, make them feel bad about themselves. You've never done that. You've always built me up. I couldn't have accomplished what I've accomplished without you. Don't think I don't know that."

She shifted closer to him, dropped his hand but slid an arm across his chest and snuggled in. The physical tension was gone. Her flesh was warm, soft, yielding. And he didn't want to ruin it with any more words. He wanted to kiss her, to take her to bed, to make love to her without saying anything else. Maybe she wanted that too. But what if he left her with the impression that he was really considering this move to Pennsylvania? He hadn't meant to do that. He had only meant to tell her what she meant to him, and how proud he was of her. Would he be lying if he made love to her now, without another word?

He hugged her tightly, trailed kisses across her brow, lifted her chin with a finger and settled his lips on hers, long and deep. When their kiss broke, she smiled, and he felt instantly how terribly he needed her, needed the physical reassurance of her love. "Do you want…" he asked, unsure of his reception, "would you be willing…could we…"

Tami took his hand and led him to the bedroom. This wouldn't be the end of the conversation about Pennsylvania, he knew. There would be fights to come. And bitter consequences whether he said yes or no to the coaching job. But that was later. This was now. This was now, and they needed one another, needed to feel each other's love. Let tomorrow come when it must. At least they had tonight.


End file.
